Rien Ne Pèse
by Amelie Nockturne
Summary: Because Nico and Reyna have the potential to develop an extremely badass bromance relationship in Blood of Olympus and we all know it.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay just putting it out there but in order to type this up I had to stop watching Supernatural (which I discovered on Netflix not too long ago) and if you're a spn fan I think you understand how big of a sacrifice I have made. Seriously. This is like one step below giving up your arm for your brother (except actually not really). Don't say I don't have dedication.**

**...**

**Oh wait me and dedication yeah right.**

**...**

**So OwlWingedHorses (her FFN name is Owlcat92) and I were having a conversation on DeviantArt about the need for Nico/Reyna bonding and this happened.**

* * *

He honestly didn't know why he chose Paris. When Reyna had done calculations, she'd told him that they needed to stay overnight around Spain or France so he could regain his energy.

He had been to Paris before on errands for his father (from Persephone, really, but if Hades so commanded it, Nico would jump all the way to Paris just to retrieve some lilies), so it was the easiest place to visualize, making it the easiest to shadow-travel to. They wound up on a hillside, giant Athena statue in tow, just outside of the city.

Nico practically collapsed there on the spot; he sat down, his head cradled in his arms, trying not to faint from exhaustion. Just today they'd already stopped in Kiev, Budapest, Warsaw, and now Paris (they'd picked bigger cities in the hopes that they'd attract less attention). He'd been stuffed with so ambrosia and nectar that he wouldn't dare ingest any more.

Not that he would want to- ambrosia tasted like _pandoro__, _a dessert that he, Bianca, and his mother would make every New Year's day, while the taste of Cherry Coke fizzed in his mouth whenever he drank nectar (he'd only had it once; Percy had pulled it out of his secret hiding place under his bed and given it to him when he received his first tour of camp). Both were bitter reminders.

...

(He would never admit it to himself, but he knew in his heart that the Cherry Coke would be blue colored if it were real).

"So this is Paris," Reyna said matter-of-factly, jarring the son of Hades from his thoughts. He nodded.

"Yeah. You ever been here before?"

"No." She provided no elaboration, and Nico didn't ask for any. "Can you stand?" Just moving his head sent his brain spinning.

"No, I, don't-"

"It's no matter. I'm surprised you made it this far at all." The way she said it conveyed no criticism, but not quite trust in his abilities, either. It was the Roman way of speaking, he supposed. "Get some rest. I'll stand watch, and once you're no longer completely useless, we can go into the city and find something to eat."

He was about to protest but suddenly keeping his eyes open felt like an impossible task and he laid his head back, the familiar crunch of dying grass rustling in his ears as he fell into sleep.

* * *

It was darker outside when he woke up than it had been when he'd gone to sleep, which puzzled him for a second. Reyna, looking poised and collected, glanced his way calmly, even though he hadn't made any noise.

"Feeling better?"

"Yeah. I'm starving though. You hungry?"

"We can't leave the statue here." His sleep-addled brain hadn't thought of that one. Nico sat up and yawned, stretching his arms.

"Right. But we're no good if we're too hungry to defend it. Got any favors you can pull, Ms. Praetor?" She glared at him and he decided to not push his luck with this girl any further.

"I could ask the same of you. I suppose you're still too weak to summon something to defend it..." She trailed off, obviously deep in thought.

"So we have nothing?"

"I didn't say that. It's just..." she looked at him, and for the first time, her eyes held a spark of something other than malice. He couldn't put his finger on the emotion, but it was there, guarded closely but not quite closely enough. After a moment, she shook her head. "Never mind. I think I have a way to protect it, if only for a short time." She bent down, closing her eyes, and traced a design with her finger, drawing an invisible circle in the grass around the statue. She stood, and the design- a rune, he realized- shimmered.

"I haven't used magic since I was very young. It won't last long."

He realized in that moment that her expression was fear.

* * *

To be honest, she was disappointed in herself for not knowing even an inkling of French besides "_merci" and _"_bonjour". _She was fluent in English and Spanish, could read Latin (and speak a fair amount of it as well), and even knew a few phrases in Greek and Portuguese. But French? She didn't exactly have time to learn a practically useless language.

Well, she supposed, it wasn't exactly useless anymore. They were wandering the streets of Paris now, hoping to find a place to eat that wasn't packed with snooty French or gluttonous tourists. She admitted to herself that had she been alone here, her situation would be pretty much hopeless. She was more grateful than she'd ever voice aloud that at least the son of Pluto (or was it Hades? She'd heard somewhere that he was actually a Greek and had been claimed at Camp Half-Blood years prior to his arrival in New Rome) seemed to have a grip on things.

Speaking of...

"Donc nous avons juste tourner à droite sur le coin?" The old woman nodded kindly.

"C'est vrai."

"Merci beaucoup." Nico bowed his head a bit, obviously thanking her.

"Le plaisir est pour moi. Avoir une belle nuit avec votre petite amie!" Reyna wasn't quite sure what the woman had said, but she could only guess as Nico walked stiffly back over to her, cheeks ruddy against his pale skin.

"This way," he muttered, eyes stormy.

* * *

"Gods, the sheer amount of couples out on the streets," she remarked dryly, dodging yet another pair making out on the sidewalk. Regretfully, it seemed Dakota had been right when he vividly described the process of French kissing at dinner one night. "I thought that the whole 'Valentine Day' tradition took place in spring? Surely this amount of affection isn't usually acceptable."

"Don't ask me," he replied ruefully. "I'm from the 1940s. Holding hands was a big deal back then, much less... what?" he glared, the boy seeming to realize Reyna was staring at him, eyes wide.

"The 1940s? That's impossible," she breathed, and he laughed humorlessly.

"You're a daughter of a Roman goddess who has spent the past few days shadow-traveling across Europe with a son of Hades and a giant magical statue of Athena. Is it really?" She noted vaguely that he was Greek after all.

"I suppose you're correct," she acquiesced. He snorted, and it was her turn to glare.

"It's just you're the one that speak like they're all old and formal. Whatever. Anyway, you're right- all this sloppy romancey stuff is gross. We see enough with Piper and Jason and Annabeth and... uh, and Percy, as it is already." His expression seemed like he regretted bringing up the topic. She agreed. Gods, the images of that awful Greek girl with him... she forcefully pushed them from her mind, barely succeeding in maintaining a calm expression.

"Is it a European thing, do you think? All the open romance?"

"Kind of, but more like Paris itself. It's the city of love, you know." His tone conveyed the same enthusiasm as if he were talking about the weather last week. "C'mon, you said yourself that the magic thing wouldn't hold for long. There is no way in Zeus that I'm shadowing again without a full stomach. Let's go- this place around the corner isn't supposed to be too expensive."

She followed him into the smoggy Paris air.

* * *

**Translations:**

"So we just turn right on the corner?"

"That's right."

"Thank you so much."

"The pleasure is mine. Have a nice night with your little girlfriend!"

***Skips out of creating a real ending* Thanks for reading! There will be more chapters to this because I think their relationship in the next book has the potential to be very complex and wonderful. The French is from Google Translate so my apologies if it's wrong! **

**Despite the tone I accidentally set for this, _I do not ship Nico and Reyna_. Like, no. Sorry for any confusion.**

**Also, in case anyone was wondering why the Hades Nico knows French and all that stuff: I have a headcanon that when Nico initially disappeared, he spent a lot of his time studying and learning as much information (about everything) as he could in an attempt to show Percy that he was just as smart as the Wise Girl. Also another one where his "curse word" is Zeus instead of Hades out of respect and probably a lot of fear. **

**Anyway, thanks again!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Uh let's pretend that Coach Hedge didn't come with them because I kind of forgot him oops I'm sorryyyy.**

**Okay, in the last chapter (and then especially in this chapter) I feel like I'm writing this really romancey. I have no intention of shipping Nico and Reyna, but just let me iron out the wrinkles with this to make it sound more friend-y and less love-y. **

She was incredibly grateful that he'd had the sense to spare them from the whole "French Bistro" shtick. They were sitting at a table with no centerpiece, watching a little girl and her younger brother toss crumbs at nearby pigeons.

...

She tried to swallow the pit in her stomach that kept growing, the uneasiness that always came with the calm before a storm.

Nico watched with dull eyes as the young boy beamed up at his sister.

The waitress, a freckled young woman whose ponytail had obviously become less perky over the course of her shift, brought out their courses. Thankfully, Nico had given Reyna a laconic rundown of the menu, so at least she didn't order something horrible (it was France where they ate snails, right? She'd never had the chance to find out).

Nico, she discovered, was an expert at getting stringy pasta to roll up perfectly onto the fork (she realizes stupidly that he grew up in Italy after all). He ate like he hadn't done so for weeks (all that shadow-traveling couldn't have been easy). She picked at her wilted salad, not really hungry as much as she was tired. The waitress brought out a check, and Reyna realized the only money she had on her was _denarii_. Not even American dollars. She was about to say something when Nico pushed a few Euro bills onto the table, shrugging in response to her look.

* * *

The sun is setting as they walk back to resume watch over the statue when they almost walk into _yet another __godsdamn couple _making out on the corner and she's pretty sure that even if she ever got herself a boyfriend she will _never _do _that _with him in_ public. _At least Nico looks just as as repulsed by the lovers as she feels.

She catches him staring at her out of the corner of her eyes once, twice, three times during the walk. She debates in her head whether she should confront him.

They're almost at the hill when he's looking at her oddly again and she turns her head sharply to meet his guilty expression.

"Is there something on my face or what?"

"No, it's nothing, really." His face is red again, the embarrassment coming off of him in waves. "You just..." the rest is muttered to lowly for her to hear.

"I just what?" Reyna demands, having stopped walking, her hands on her hips. Nico's face is pretty much a tomato now.

"You look like my sister, alright?" Reyna blinks. She definitely wasn't expecting that one.

"Your... sister? Hazel?"

"No." His eyes are darker than anything she's ever seen before. "My older sister, Bianca. She's..." He doesn't have to finish the sentence.

"Oh," is all she can think to say, the word out of her mouth before she really even realizes it.

"Yeah." He shoves his hands in his pockets and sulks off up to the statue.

* * *

She decides not to break the protective spell in favor of letting the both of them get some much-needed sleep. They're lying on top of the grass (she mutters silent prayers that it won't begin to pour or thunder or the like). Reyna's too tired to sleep, almost, so instead she finds herself looking up at the stars. An old habit from Camp, she supposes.

The thought brings a pang to her chest. She misses Camp Jupiter; the way the sun's golden rays shone on the Oakland Hills as it rose; the Lares who, if you had an hour or four to spare, were actually phenomenal storytellers; her friends. Gwen, Bobby, Hank- they were about as close to friends as she'd ever had. And, of course, her heart spoke up, there was Jason... Reyna heaved a sigh, turning onto her side in an attempt to switch her train of thought.

"Too tired to sleep?" Nico's voice was soft, as if he wanted someone to talk to but at the same time wanted nothing to do with her ever again.

"Yeah," she sighed in reply. "It feels like my brain just won't shut off." Normally, there's no way she would talk so informally, but quite frankly, she was too exhausted to care at this point. Nico makes a sort of snorting noise that she assumes is a sign of humor.

"Sounds like you and Annabeth have more in common than you think." She sat up slowly, pondering the comment.

"I suppose. We are both daughters of war, after all. I don't know her very well, though," she admitted honestly. "Have you known her long? You seem to know a lot about her." Nico laughs humorlessly- a scary thing the likes of which she would be better off never hearing again.

"Yeah, kind of. She and a few others were the ones sent to bring me and my sister to Camp, but she was captured. My sister was on the quest to rescue her when she..." Oh.

Nico is silent, as if reliving the memories again in his own mind. After an awkwardly long pause, he speaks again. "But I'm not angry about that anymore." If his voice is any indication, he's telling the truth. She turns her head to face him and finds him upright in a sitting position, shoulders slumped and picking at the grass that's started to die as he sits there. (It's a good thing she's had one too many bad experiences to even deem that as creepy). He sighs again and rises, walking away and calling over his shoulder.

"I'm gonna go for a walk. Do you mind taking watch? You can sleep if the spell thing'll hold. Won't be gone long." She makes a motion to stand up and follow him but before she can even voice a reply he's gone, melted into the shadows.

If she really wanted to, she could catch up to him- he wouldn't use his actual shadow-travel powers, he needs to save every ounce of energy he can- and, on second thought, the grass is slowly starting to seem more and more unfriendly, the stars blinking almost dangerously. She's not lonely- she crossed the Mare Nostrum by herself, she can be alone if she wants to- but she has to look out for that stupid son of Hades, Reyna tells herself, because Jason told her to do so before they left.

* * *

Gods, Paris is freaking smoggy, and it doesn't help that the boy she's trying to track down wears all black and blends almost seamlessly into the background, nor does the fact that she knows not a lick of French. Now that she thinks about it, it must be the weekend, because it seems that the entirety of the population under the age of 30 has chosen tonight to go out on the town, so to speak. And there's a reason Paris is called the city of love- some of the things she's walking past should probably be considered potentially illegal (and unquestionably mind-scarring).

If this experience doesn't feel enough like a terrible romantic comedy yet, she finds Nico standing sullenly at an intersection by a park. His face is red- the most color she's ever seen on him- as if he's been standing in the cold for too long, but it's warm outside...

Her eyes follow his line of vision and he sees why. Two kids about Reyna's age who seem to be _very much _in love are making out. In the middle of the street. Lips are locked; his hands are clenching her blonde curly hair as she runs her fingers through his tan-colored locks.

They pull away and Reyna does almost a double-take. If she wasn't three hundred percent sure that Annabeth Chase was on the Argo II at this very moment (and also that she had a serious boyfriend)... Reyna glances back to Nico, who is standing there looking scandalized.

She thinks back to their conversation earlier. _"But I'm not angry about that anymore." _Could the son of Hades actually...? He doesn't seem the type to harbor a secret crush, but then again, neither does she- nonono, it's not a crush, she's told herself time and time again that it's nothing, really, she's happy for her comrade and that airhead of a Venus he calls a girlfriend...

The Annabeth-look-alike and her boyfriend move on, strolling down the street in each other's arms. Reyna steps closer to finally speak to Nico, but she realizes the couple wasn't what his eye was focused on.

Two men- one tan, with absolutely outlandish clothes and spiky dark hair; the other with a simple grey sweater and long black hair that vaguely reminds her of someone- are kissing (much more modestly, at least). To be honest, the sort of thing has never bothered her (and besides, this is Europe, after all), but Nico looks embarrassed beyond belief. His dark eyes are wide, drawn to the shaggy black-haired boy.

* * *

(She's never been able to read lips very well but she would bet her life that 'Percy' is what's forming on Nico's.)

And it all falls into place.

**Hehehe feeling devious about my cameos from other fandoms...**

**Changing tenses in the middle of a chapter who me? **

**Okay on a scale of one to ten about "how shaky am I with the direction this chapter has taken" I'm like a 12. If you guys hate it as much as I'm dreading, pleasepleaseplease tell me and I will change it! As always, thank you for reading :)**


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